Self-stropping safety-razor



J. W. McAULIFFE.

SELF STROPPING SAFETY RAZOR.

APPLICAHON FILED APR. 16, 1920.

8 M m a P 1.,W. McAULlFFE.

SELF STROPPING SAFETY RAZOR.

HPPLICATION FILED APR.I6,1920.

1,367,158, Pawnted Feb. 1,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- iz m,

on line 5-5 of Fig. A, the

Tee

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. MCAULIFFE, UF ZPELHAM, NEW YORK.

SELF-STROPPING SAFETY-RAZOR.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. .MGAULIFFE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at town of Pelham, county of Westchester, ti State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Self-Stropping Safety-Razors, and declare the following .to,be a full, clear, and exact description of the saimefsuch as will enable others to skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a firt of this specification.

y invention has for its object to produce in a simple and novel safety razor combining within itself a stropping device and means for supporting a. blade in a shaving position or in a 'stropping position.

The various features of novelt whereby no my invention is characterized will hereinafter he pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its object and advantages, reference may be had to the followan ing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is anendv view of a razor arranged in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on a plane parallel with the plane of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on line 33 of Fig.1;

Fig. 4 is an end elevationof a modified form of razor, the handle being broken Fig. 5 is a view of the razor illustrated in Fi 4, showing the opposite end thereof;

i 6 is a section taken a proximately ull line construction showing the razor blade in the stropping position and the dotted hnes showing the blade in an intermediate position between the stropping and shaving pothe bottom Ofwhich depends a central rib 65 like part, 2, forming a handle. Over-lying the member 1 is a housing or casing, 3, open Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

Application filed April 16, 1920. Serial No. 374,301.

width toward the top. The members 1 and 3 may conveniently be secured together by means of screws, 4, passing through overlapping portlons thereof, or they may be fastened together in any suitable way. The houslng member, 3, is also open at the top and, extending laterally and outwardly from one long edge at the top thereof is a flange or shelf, 5, shaped in any usual or suitable way to support and guard a single edged razor blade. The housing member, 3, 1s open on the side opposite that on which the blade support, 5, is located, that is, on the rear side. The open rear side of the upper member of the housing is closed by a wall or door, 6, hinged at its lower end, as indicated at 7 to the member 3 and having at the upper end thereof a hood, 8, in the form of an inverted trough which, when the door is closed as shown in the drawings, overliesthe open upper endof the housing. The housing member, 3,, is preferably provided with inwardly-directed flanges 0r ledges, 9, along the rear edges of its side walls for the purpose of providing stops or hearing strips against which the door may rest when closed. Means are preferably provided tending normally to hold the door closed but permltting it to be opened. This may conveniently be accomplished by placing in the housing a spring, 10, one end of which is secured to the door and theother end to one of the end walls of the housing; this spring being under an initial tension sufiicient to hold the door closed or to close it when left free to do so.

Extending lengthwise through the hood and journaled at its ends in the end walls thereof is a blade holder, 11, which is-adapted to engage and hold the back edge of a blade, 12, having a single cuttingedge. The parts are so proportioned that when in the position 'shown in full lines in Fig. 1, the blade extends out through the front of the hood into operative relation with the support and guard, 5; a suitable catch or lock, 13, being provided to hold the swinging door in this position. When the swinging door is opened into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the blade is drawn from the supporting shelf and swings downwardly through the open top and rear side of the upper member of the housing. Then when the door is permitted to close the blade assumes the position shown in full lines in ion Figs. 2 and-3 which is the stropping position.

Within the housing is a suitable stropping device adapted to strop the blade when the latter hangs in its stropping position. In the arrangement shown, the stropping device consists of a segment of a cylinder, 14, having its cylindrical surface suitably prepared; the member 14 being carried by a shaft, 15, parallel with the swinging holder. 11, and spaced-apart therefrom a distance less than. the width of the blade plus the radius of the stropping cylinder. Therefore when the mutilated side of the cylinder is up as illustrated in Fig. 2, the blade may hang freely but, if the stropping element is turned inone direction or the other, one of the radial surfaces, 16 and 17, en ages with the sideof the blade, swinging t e blade laterally until it eventually assumes a position tangent to the cylinder; One of these positions of the blade is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. During the continued rotation of the stropping element it -acts in the well known way on the blade to sharpen the same.

"Then, when the edge of the blade-reaches the trailing end or edge of the cylindrical stropping surface, it is no longer restrained but is permitted to swing back to the position illustrated in full lines. If now the stropping element be turned in the opposite direction, the cuttin ed e will be' stropped from the opposite si e of the blade, the blade being first swung over to one side of the housing and finally being left free to drop back into its Vertical position again. In this way by rocking the stropping element back and forth through an angle of less than 360 derees, the blade will be stropped alternately rom opposite sides. After the stropping is completed, the door is swung back'into the position shown in dotted lines in' Fig. 1, the blade is raised so as to bring it above the supporting shelf and guard, 5, and the door is then permitted to close, carrying the blade forward into its shaving position in operative relation to the guard.

If desired, there may be placed on the in nor side of the door& fiat spring, 18, a similar spring, 18, being placed on the front wall of the upper member of the housing; these springs being in position to engage with the sides of the blade when it isswung out of its vertical position and, being placed under tension before the blade reaches a position tangential to the stropper, serving to start the blade from an inclined position to a vertical position whenever the edge comes opposite the mutilated portion of the stropping cylinder.

The stropping cylinder may be actuated by a suitable crank, 19, fixed to one end of the shaft 15. The handle, 20, of the crank is preferably slidably mounted in the radial arm thereof so that when it is brought opposite a hole, 21, in one of the end walls of the handle, 2, of the housing, it may be pushed inwardly as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3, so as no longer to project matcriall and at the same time locking the crank against accidental rotation. The parts are preferably so disposed that when the crank is locked in the manner just explained, the mutilated side of the stropping cylinder is directed upwardly in order to permit the razor blade to be swung freely into a stropping position.

I if desired, a suitable pawl device, 22, havmg a projecting pin, 23, to be engaged by the crank, may be provided to cooperate with a toothed wheel, 24;, fixed to the shaft, 15, so as to make it necessary to complete a stroke of the crank started in either direction before the crank can move in the opposite direction.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. i to 7 inclusive, the housing is made of lower and upper members, 25 and 26, which may take generally the form of the members 1 and 3 except that the upper member is closed at the ends and at the sides and is open only at the bottom and at the top of the contracted neck-27. in which the upper end of the member 26 terminates. From one of the long side edges, whichmay be called the front edge of the neck, 27, of the housing extends laterally a suitable support and guard, 28, for the razor blade, 12. The blade is fixed at one edge in a holder, 11, such as heretofore described, this holder lying within and journaled at its ends in the end walls of a hood, 29. The hood rests upon the reduced neck of the housing, being hinged thereto at one end by means of a suitable hinge, 30, and there being a suitable catch, 31, at the opposite end of the hood to lock it down upon the housing. The hood is provided on the front side thereof with a forwardly-projecting part or flange, 32, which presses down upon the top of the blade in the shaving position. and yieldingly holds it in place. Within the housing is a stropping cylinder or roller, 14, such as heretofore described, and there being a pawland ratchet, 22 and 24, if desired, to compel the user to complete a stropping stroke. once started, before beginning a return stroke. 'hen it is desired to strop the blade, the catch 31 is released, the hood is swung upwardly into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6 and, when the blade lies directly over the open top of the contracted neck of the housing, the hood is again lowered and locked in place.

The stropper may be actuated by a suitable detachable crank, 33, the handle, 34, of which may be adjusted so as to make it aline with the radial arm of the crank. The crank may therefore be detached and housed in a compartment requiring only a small cross sectional area. Such a compartment may conveniently be obtained by providing the housing with a hollow handle, 35, closed at the free end by means of a screw cap, 36, or the like; the actuating crank for the stropper being housed within this hollow handle when not in use.

The member 11 for holding and pivotally supporting the blade may take any form or construction adapted for the purpose. In Fig. 8 I have illustrated a device which may conveniently be employed, the same consisting of a shaft divided longitudinally into two halves, 36' and'37, each half having half trunnions at its ends as indicated at 38 and 39 respectively. The member 37 is continued beyond the half trunnions, 39, so as to have at its extreme ends complete trunnions, 40. The two halves of the shaft are adapted to be clamped together by means of collars or bushings, 41, which, when they wholly overlie the solid trunnions, 40, permit the two halves of the shaft to be separated from each other but, when they overlie or surround the divided trunnions in whole or in part, lock the two halves of the shaft together. The trunnions, 40, thus serve as the actual bearing supports for the one or more holes,-42, through which a pin' or pins, a3, on the shaft member 36 may roject; the other shaft member having soc ets,

44, opposite the pins. These pins therefore serve to lock the blade in position and also to hold the two halves of the shaft in alinement with each other.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the terms employed *in the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims,

I claim:

1. A safety razor comprising a holder, a stropper mounted in said holder, and a blade pivotally supported above the stropper so as to be capable of swinging from a shaving position to a stropping position.

2. A safety razor comprising a holder, a

stropper mounted in the holder, a guard on the holder above said stropper, a pivotal support adapted to engage a razor blade at one edge, and means for adjusting said support from a position in which a blade held therein rests on said guard to a position in which said blade hangs in proximity to said stropper.

' 3. A safety razor comprising a holder,'a stropper mounted on the holder, said holder having a guard at a point above the stropper, a device adapted to grip a razor blade in the vicinity of one of its long edges, and means for pivotally supporting said device so as to permit the blade to swing about said edge as an axis and to move bodily from a position overlying said. guard to a position in which it hangs down into the Vicinity of the stropper.

4. A safety razor comprising a housing, a stropper arranged in the housing, said housing having a guard at the upper end for supporting a blade in shaving position, said housing being open at the top, a blade-carrying element adapted to engage a blade in the vicinity of one of the long edges of the latter, and means for supporting said element so as to permit it to move from a position in which a blade held thereby rests on said guard to a position in which the blade hangs down into the housing so as to bring its cutting edge into operative relation to the stropper.

5. safety razor comprising a housing open at the top and rear in the vicinity of the top, a guard projecting laterally from the front of the housing near the top, a stropper'within the lower portion of the housing, a cover for the open portions of the housing hinged at its lower end to the housing, and a blade-carrying element journaled in the-upper portion of said cover, the parts being so proportioned that when the cover is opened it permits the blade to be brought elther above said guard or be projected into the housing and when the cover is closed holds the blade on the guard or permits it to swing in the housing in operative relation to the stropper.

6. A safety razor comprising a holder having a latenally-projecting guard on the front side, a stropper mounted on the holder in rear of .and below said guard, and means for supporting a razor blade in shaving position on the guard or in a stro ping position in which it hangs down ehind and free from the guard with its edge in proximity to the stropper.

7. A safety razor comprising a housing having a guard at the upper end for supporting a blade in shaving position, a cylindrical stropper arranged within the housing with its axis parallel with the plane of said guard, said stropper having a section extending throughout the length thereof cut away, and means for supportin a blade either in shaving position on sai guard or depending into the housing free from said i guard With its cutting edge in operative relation to the stropper.

8. A safety razor comprising a housing having a guard at the upper end for supporting a blade in shaving position, blade-holding means constructed and arranged to hold said blade on said guard or permit it to hang freely in the housing, and means in the housing for stropping the blade alternately from opposite sides thereof when the blade occupies the last mentioned position.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

JOHN W. MCAULIFFE. 

